Restoring the lobster stock near Rhode Island: the North Cape lobster restoration program

In a winter storm in January 1996, the oil barge North Cape ran aground on Moonstone Beach in Rhode Island, spilling approximately 800,000 gallons of home heating oil into Block Island Sound and onto the shore. It is estimated that 9 million American lobsters from juveniles to adults were killed in the spill, along with several thousand birds, and millions of clams, fish and other marine invertebrates. The responsible party, along with state and federal governments, reached a settlement, which agrees to the restoration of lobsters and other wildlife killed by the oil spill. The Ocean Technology Foundation is conducting the lobster restoration efforts, which involves restocking 1.248 million adult female lobsters. An estimated 23 billion eggs from these females will yield in excess of nine million lobsters, replacing those that perished in the spill. The goal is to both replace lobsters lost after the North Cape oil spill and to promote the long-term health of the lobster fishery. Local lobstermen are playing an important role in the restoration project. OTF Observers in the program accompany lobstermen out to sea, where they check to see if lobsters pulled up in the traps meet the criteria for the restocking program. If a lobster is female, has a hard, clean shell, and is of legal size, a "v-notch" is made in her right middle flipper, which marks her as a participant in the restoration program, and makes her illegal to keep if she is caught again in a trap. The notches are recorded and set aside to be reported at the end of the day. The lobstermen receive credit for each lobster that is notched and returned to the sea. The ability of OTF and the National Marine Fisheries Service scientists to review data on a daily basis has been a critical element in managing the program. An important indicator that the program is finding success is that many of the recaptured lobsters (40-50%) are producing eggs as observed when the v-notched lobsters are recaptured and returned to the sea. Additionally, approximately 30% of the present egg production in Rhode Island can be credited to the Lobster Restoration Program. These eggs will become legal sized adult lobsters in about five years. To maintain a limit on how aggressively the notching program could dominate the fishery, a restocking area may be temporarily closed to notching when consistent catch rates yield 3 previously notched lobsters for every one legal, harvestable lobster.